In the first three days of 2023, six people died trying to escape across the Mediterranean.Image: AP / Francisco Seco
politics
27-year-old Syrian Sara Mardini swam to safety. She later helped other refugees get across the Mediterranean. Now she is accused of espionage and smuggling.
Elena Lynch / watson.ch
Her Story went around the world: in 2015, the sisters Sara and Yusra Mardini fled from Syria to Europe. they sat according to UNHCR along with 18 other people in a rubber dinghy somewhere between Turkey and Greece when the engine stalled.
Before fleeing, the sisters were swimming in the Syrian national team. On the high seas, they tied ropes around themselves, jumped into the water and pulled the boat with physical strength to Lesbos.
Yusra Mardini swam for the refugee team at the Olympics.Image: www.imago-images.de / ZUMA Press
They later came via the Balkan route Berlin. Yusra continued her swimming training there and competed in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics and 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
The streaming service Netflix filmed her story: “The Swimmers” was released last November. The film tells a heroine’s journey and ends with the 2016 Olympic Games.
But the reality went on: Sara went to Lesvos to get involved in sea rescue. She volunteered as a lifeguard for the Greek aid organization Emergency Response Center International (ERCI), which cooperated with the Greek Coast Guard, among others.
Sara Mardini at the premiere for “The Swimmers” in 2022.Image: Invision/AP / Evan Agostini
After Greece tightened its migration policy course, the organization came into the focus of the Greek authorities, mainly because of sea rescue.
In 2018 Sara was arrested. Likewise the German-Irish rescue diver Seàn Binder, who also worked for ERCI, and three other activists.
They spent more than three months in custody before being released on bail. Members of the European Parliament campaigned for their release. But the charges were not dropped.
Up to 25 years imprisonment
A trial against Sara and 23 other activists was picked up on Lesvos on Tuesday. In 2021 it was opened for the first timebut directly contracted and referred to the next instance.
The Greek authorities accuse them of espionage. According to a police report, they are said to have tapped the Frontex radio channel. However, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW), the police report also states that it was not encrypted and could therefore be received by anyone with an ultra short wave radio.
Also smuggling, money laundering, betrayal of state secrets, Education a criminal organization and other offenses are among the charges. The accused deny the allegations. If convicted, they face up to 25 years in prison, according to Amnesty International (AI).
As a Syrian, Sara is not allowed to take part in the procedure because of an entry ban. She is represented by lawyers. This was already the case in 2021.
in one Interview with the “mirror” she said, “I wanted to defend myself. I didn’t want others to represent me, even my own lawyers. I can speak for myself.”
Binder, on the other hand, was allowed to enter the country as a German citizen. On the first day of the trial he told the media: “We spent the whole morning giving one reason after the other why this process cannot go ahead.”
The prosecutor made one mistake after another. She violated human rights and made procedural errors. Binder spoke of a “Rule of Flaws” instead of a “Rule of Law”.
Binder accuses the public prosecutor of deliberately delaying the process. in one Interview with the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” he said: “I think the goal isn’t that we end up being convicted, but that the whole process lasts as long as possible. Um People deter that life want to save.”
Defendant convinced to be able to prove innocence
His defense also points out that the indictment does not make it clear who is charged with what. The allegations were also not sufficiently substantiated.
However, he and the other defendants want the proceedings to finally begin after years in “legal limbo”. They are convinced that they can prove their innocence in a fair trial.
Binder said: “A court has to recognize: What we did was legal. Otherwise there remains a shadow of doubt, not just over me, but over everyone who conducts search and rescue operations.”
The process will continue on Friday. It’s unclear how long it will last.
